Based on the recommendation from the manager at my local Barnes ‘n Noble, I finished the book The Stories Life of A.J. Fikry and jumped immediately into the film. Wasn’t a highly rated movie but I very much enjoyed the sweet novel so was hoping for the best. The opening credits told me the author (Gabrielle Zevin) wrote the screenplay so that gave me hope. Well founded hope, as it turns out.

The story is about a grumpy small town bookstore owner who, in short order, is rude to a pretty young agency bookseller and then finds an abandoned baby in his shop. He first falls in love with the baby and, in short order, the bookseller. Life unfolds.

This is an eclectic, borderline eccentric, little romantic comedy… or maybe just romance. Or maybe just biography of a life. Or maybe it’s about a collection of small town folk going about theirs. I guess when your screenplay is by the author, she’s going to include all the random bits and that’s fine since the random bits are partly what makes this story so charming.

The casting is quite good. Kunal Nayyar plays AJ who might have been a challenge since he’s often rude and elitist. The lovely Lucy Hale plays the girl in his life and she charming as ever. David Arquette, Christina Hendricks, Scott Foley and a few others round out the cast. Oh, and a whole herd of young ladies play his adopted daughter over the course of eighteen years. Lovely cast. They do an admirable job.

I’d say my only real complaint – and this is coming from a book reader so its hard to say how it’ll hit on a newcomer – is that the third act feels very jumpy. I knew what bits and bobs they were skimming over so I wasn’t lost, but it felt like it might be skimming and skipping a bit too much for someone coming in cold.

Overall, I was moved by this sweet adaptation (but not as much as the book… of course). There’s enough material here to hug and maybe to lose a tear or two over. I give it a firm recommendation to the romantic heart and the little indie film fan in anyone.

Score: 84